Once again, I find myself in Bergstraße 28, Weingarten and I couldn’t be happier. Cornelius has grown to over 6 Füß tall. Becci ist mit Gymnasium fertig and will be studying Medizin in Homburg (nicht Hamburg, sondern Homburg; in Saarland). Judith is in Ulm, getting some well-needed rest before her Prüfung morgen, which will test her on Biochemie, Physiologie, und Anatomie. She has been studying Medizin für schon 2 Jahre. Miryam is working in der Schweitz als physical therapist. After a twenty year hiatus, Gertraud, meine Gastmuter, arbeitet wieder als Krankenschwester, just like mama and papa. Sie arbeitet mit meinem Gastvater, Siegfried, als seine Assistentin. Und Siegried ist still as funny as ever and can make me laugh like no other, wie immer.

Here are some of the memories we relived over dinner:

I asked ob man “das außerhalb von dieser Käse” essen kann…Directly translated, I asked if you can eat “the outside of this cheese,” because, for those of you unfamiliar with cheese, there are some cheese whose outside should be eaten and others whose outside should not be eaten. A good question, gäh? Well, apparently, “außerhalb” cannot be used as liberally as we use it in English, and is only used to abstracly refer to the outside of a location…I should have asked ob man “die Schale dieser Käse” essen kann. “Schale” heißt “shell.” I guess that makes sense.

Siegried took me to a beautiful city called Heideberg. It sounded familiar at the time, but all of these German cities sound similar, if not actually familiar, so I thought nothing of it. On the drive up, he told me a little bit about about the history of Heidelberg, once again stirring to mind a feeling of familiarity, which I readily attributed to Mrs. Russell, my 10th grade AP Euro history teacher. However, my sense of déjà vu only strengthened upon our arrival, and walking about the town, I was sure I knew the place. With anticipation and mild apprehenison, I asked Siegrfried if we would see a enormous keg, the size of a small house. Surprised, he responded, yes, to which I apologised, I think I’ve been here before. Edit that, I know I’ve been here before, because, let’s be real, an enormous keg the size of a small house is something impossible to attribute to rewritten memory. He seemed a little disappointed.

On Christmas day, 2003, we went sledding on a hillside. I guess I looked sad, despite the laughing and playing in the snow, because Cornelius asked me in eine süße stimme, “Stuart, hast du Heimweh?” He was asking if I was homesick. I think it annoyed me at the time, because I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like his depressions pointed out to him, let alone diagnosed, especially when I’m trying to enjoy myself, laughing and playing in the snow. But, in retrospect, it was the sweetest thing ever.